Effect of Crop Straw Treatments on the Growth and Physiology of

Peach (Prunus davidiana) Seedlings

Kewen Huang

, Ting Wang

, Lei Liu

, Lijin Lin

and Yan Huang

1e*

Research Institute of Horticulture, Chengdu Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

College of Horticulture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Keywords: Peach (Prunus Davidiana), Growth, Physiolodgy, Straw.

Abstract: The effects of crop straw treatments (rape, paddy, wheat, and corn straw) on the growth and physiology of

peach [Prunus davidiana (Carr.) Franch] seedlings were studied by experiment. It can be observed that the

addition of rape straw markedly enhanced the dry weight and photosynthetic pigment content of peach

seedlings, while the addition of other straw had the opposite effect. Soluble protein content increased with

the addition of all four straw. The addition of rape straw increased the superoxide dismutase and catalase

activities and decreased the peroxidase activity and malondialdehyde content, while the addition of paddy,

wheat, and corn straw resulted in an opposite response. Based on these findings, rape straw addition is

considered the most favourable practice for the growth of peach seedlings.

1 INTRODUCTION

Straw application in orchard improves soil structure

and the soil water, gas and heat regulating ability,

accelerates soil material circulation, improves soil

nutrient utilization rate, and reduces agriculture

input costs. This soil management practice has

demonstrated remarkable effect (Oelbermann et al.,

2004) and it improves fruit yield and quality

(Sommer et al., 2004). Straw application in apple,

plum, and pear changes the fertility and structure of

soil, reduces the organic fertilizer and chemical

manure use, while it increases the single fruit weight

and improves the appearance and nutritional

qualities of fruits (Zhou et al., 2019, Luo et al.,

2019, Yi et al., 2019).

Peach is considered to be the sixth largest fruit in

the world and is popular all over the world,

especially China's peach production ranks first in the

world (Jin et al., 2019). However, there are a few

studies about applications the straw in peach. In this

experiment, the effects of addition of different types

of straw (wheat, paddy, rape and corn straw) on the

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4977-0853

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6424-5742

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5606-0035

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3650-8557

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2889-5806

growth and physiology of peach [Prunus davidiana

(Carr.) Franch], which is often used for grafted

rootstock in production and breeding were

investigated. And the purpose of this study was to

select the most appropriate straw for the growth of

peach seedlings.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1 Materials

Peach seeds were collected from a 10-year-old peach

tree in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The seeds were

seeded in a mixture of perlite and vermiculite and

stored in an artificial climate chamber under

conditions of 14 hours at 25°C during day, 70%

relative humidity, 4000 Lux; and 10 hours with 20°C

at night, 90% relative humidity, 0 Lux (Li et al.,

2020). The Hoagland nutrient solution was added to

the tray to cultivate seedlings. And the seedlings

were then transplanted into pots when they were

about 10 cm tall.

The old aerial parts (after the harvest mature

grains) of rape, paddy, wheat, and corn collected

from the farmlands around the Chengdu Campus of

Sichuan Agricultural University (30°71' N, 103°87'

E) and were dried at 80℃ to constant weight,

564

Huang, K., Wang, T., Liu, L., Lin, L. and Huang, Y.

Effect of Crop Straw Treatments on the Growth and Physiology of Peach (Prunus Davidiana) Seedlings.

DOI: 10.5220/0011236700003443

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics (ICBEB 2022), pages 564-568

ISBN: 978-989-758-595-1

shredded to 1-2cm. The contents of nitrogen,

phosphorus, and potassium in rape straw were 2.69,

3.12, and 31.54 mg g

−1

, respectively; in paddy straw

were 0.83, 2.32, and 15.78 mg g

−1

, respectively; in

wheat straw were 0.19, 0.61, and 12.49 mg g

−1

respectively; in corn straw were 1.65, 1.25, and

23.52 mg g

−1

, respectively.

Fluvo-aquic soil collected from the farmlands

around the Chengdu Campus of Sichuan

Agricultural University. And the properties of the

soil were determined according to the method of

Bao (2000) as: pH 7.71, total N 1.85 g kg

−1

, total P

11.88 g kg

−1

, total K 15.38 g kg

−1

, alkali-soluble N

87.99 mg kg

−1

, available P 55.78 mg kg

−1

, available

K 41.96 mg kg

−1

, water-soluble calcium (Ca) 0.21

mg g

−1

, water-soluble magnesium (Mg) 0.03 mg g

−1

and water-soluble sodium (Na) 0.03 mg g

−1

2.2 Experimental Design

The experiment was conducted at the Chengdu

Campus of Sichuan Agricultural University from

April to October 2019. The soil was air-dried and

passed through a 5 mm sieve, and each plastic pot

(21 cm high, 20 cm in diameter) was filled with 3 kg

air-dried soil. Each pot of soil was then thoroughly

mixed with the prepared straw. 1 kg of soil mixed

with 10 g of straw, that is, 30 g of straw per pot.

Then watered to keep soil moisture at 80% of field

capacity and equilibrated for 1 week. The five

treatments were used in the experiment: no straw

(control), rape straw was added, paddy straw was

added, wheat straw was added, and corn straw was

added. Each treatment was repeated four times and

placed at random, with the interval between pots

maintained at 10 cm. 4 consistent seedlings of peach

were transplanted in each pot, and grown in a

greenhouse under conditions of 14 hours at 25°C

during day, 70% relative humidity, 4000 Lux; and

10 hours with 20°C at night, 90% relative humidity,

0 Lux (Li et al., 2020). During cultivation, watered

all pots irregularly to keep the soil moisture content

at 80% field capacity. In addition, as soon as the

weed seedlings appeared, they were pulled out

immediately.

2.3 Measurement of Parameters

After transplanting for 60 days, the mature leaves

were selected to analyze the contents of chlorophyll

a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, and carotenoid by

acetone-ethanol mixture extraction method (Hao,

2004). Furthermore, fresh leaves were collected and

homogenized in potassium phosphate buffer at 4°C,

followed by centrifugation at 11,000 × g for 20

minutes, and the supernatant was collected for

testing. Then the superoxide dismutase (SOD)

activity was analyzed by nitrogen blue tetrazolium

method; peroxidase (POD) activity was analyzed by

guaiacol method; catalase (CAT) activity was

analyzed by potassium permanganate titration

method; soluble protein content was analyzed by

coomassie brilliant blue colorimetric method;

malondialdehyde (MDA) content was analyzed by

thiobarbituric acid colorimetric method (Hao, 2004).

After that, the whole plants were harvested and

divided into roots, stems and leaves, which were

then cleaned repeatedly with tap water and rinsed

three times with deionized water. And the dry

weight of roots, stems and leaves was measured by

electronic balance after the different parts were dried

in an oven at 80 °C to a constant weight.

2.4 Statistical Analysis

All the data in this experiment were analyzed by

one-way ANOVA with the least significant

difference test (p ≤ 0.05) with SPSS 25.0 statistical

software.

The shoot dry weight = stem dry weight + leaf

dry weight. The root/shoot ratio = root dry weight/

shoot dry weight.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Dry Weight of Peach Seedlings

Different straw treatments had the different effects

on the root, stem, leaf, and shoot dry weight of

peach seedlings (Table 1). Leaf and shoot dry weight

of peach seedlings with rape straw addition

respectively increased by 10.28 and 6.71%

compared with the control. On the contrary, the

paddy, wheat, and corn straw addition decreased the

dry weight of peach seedlings compared with the

control, and the lowest dry weight of various organs

was the wheat straw treatment. The root-shoot ratio

of peach seedlings with rape straw addition had no

significant difference and with other treatments was

more than that of the control.

Effect of Crop Straw Treatments on the Growth and Physiology of Peach (Prunus Davidiana) Seedlings

565

Table 1: Dry weight of peach seedlings.

Treatments

Root dry weight

(g plant

−1

)

Stem dry weight

(g plant

−1

)

Leaf dry weight

(g plant

−1

)

Shoot dry weight

(g plant

−1

)

Root/shoot ratio

Control

0.532±0.025ab 0.362±0.012a 0.652±0.020b 1.014±0.032b 0.525±0.017d

Rape straw

0.550±0.029a 0.363±0.017a 0.719±0.012a 1.082±0.030a 0.508±0.025d

Paddy straw

0.515±0.014ab 0.237±0.016c 0.413±0.011d 0.650±0.027d 0.793±0.047b

Wheat straw

0.493±0.023b 0.205±0.010d 0.333±0.014e 0.538±0.024e 0.917±0.004a

Corn straw

0.524±0.017ab 0.273±0.011b 0.513±0.006c 0.786±0.017c 0.667±0.036c

Different lowercase letters in the same column represent significant differences (p ≤ 0.05).

3.2 Photosynthetic Pigment Content in

Peach Seedlings

The effects of different straw treatments on the

photosynthetic pigment content of peach seedling

were similar to the biomass of peach seedlings

(Table 2). The contents of chlorophyll a, total

chlorophyll, and carotenoid in peach seedlings with

rape straw addition increased by 10.81, 7.75, and

17.65% (p < 0.05), respectively, compared with the

control. The paddy, wheat, and corn straw

treatments decreased the contents of chlorophyll a,

chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, and carotenoid of

peach seedlings compared with the control, and the

wheat straw treatment had lowest photosynthetic

pigments content of peach seedlings. The rape straw

enhanced the chlorophyll a/b of peach seedlings,

while wheat straw reduced that, compared with the

control.

Table 2: Photosynthetic pigment content in peach seedlings.

Treatments

Chlorophyll a

(mg g

−1

)

Chlorophyll b

(mg g

−1

)

Total

chlorophyll

(

−1

)

Carotenoid

(mg g

−1

)

Chlorophyll a/b

Control 1.85±0.02b 0.72±0.02a 2.58±0.04b 0.34±0.01b 2.57±0.04b

Rape straw 2.05±0.06a 0.73±0.03a 2.78±0.06a 0.40±0.01a 2.80±0.14a

Paddy straw 1.77±0.02c 0.67±0.02b 2.45±0.04c 0.33±0.01b 2.65±0.05ab

Wheat straw 1.40±0.03d 0.61±0.03c 2.01±0.04d 0.23±0.01c 2.29±0.14c

Corn straw 1.78±0.02c 0.68±0.01b 2.46±0.03c 0.33±0.01b 2.64±0.03ab

Different lowercase letters in the same column represent significant differences (p ≤ 0.05).

3.3 Physiological Indicators of Peach

Seedlings

Rape straw treatment enhanced the SOD and CAT

activities of peach seedlings compared with that of

the control, while paddy, wheat and corn straw

treatments had no significant or inhibited effects on

that (Table 3). Paddy and wheat straw enhanced the

POD activity of peach seedlings compared with the

control, while rape and corn straw had no significant

or inhibited effects on that. Compared with the

control, rape straw had no significant effect on the

contents of soluble protein and MDA in peach

seedlings, and paddy, wheat and corn straw

increased that.

Table 3 Physiological indicators of peach seedlings

Treatments

SOD activity

(U g

−1

)

CAT activity

(mg g

−1

min

−1

)

POD activity

(U g

−1

min

−1

)

Soluble protein

content

(

−1

)

MDA content

(mg g

−1

)

Control 354.97±14.49b 0.55±0.02b 326.32±13.94c 4.72±0.13c 53.82±1.27d

Rape straw 398.04±18.19a 0.67±0.02a 283.64±14.89d 4.74±0.13c 49.66±0.82d

Paddy straw 347.65±11.04b 0.35±0.01c 370.44±17.99b 5.41±0.07b 82.27±3.57b

Wheat straw 282.50±11.41c 0.15±0.01d 405.17±15.92a 7.63±0.27a 98.41±7.63a

Corn straw 353.09±12.85b 0.32±0.02c 333.66±11.91c 5.25±0.02b 67.66 ±4.72c

Different lowercase letters in the same column represent significant differences (p ≤ 0.05). .

ICBEB 2022 - The International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics

566

4 DISCUSSION

After returning, straw gets decayed and releases

organic matter, which improves soil structure,

fertility, and nutrient cycling, and also influences

various plant metabolic activities (van Asten et al.,

2005). Addition the rice straw could markedly

enhanced the biomass at maturity (18.95%) and

spike biomass (15.3%) of rice (Wang et al., 2020).

Winter wheat with maize straw return had higher

kernels no. ear

-1

, thousand-kernel weight, grain

yields, and nitrogen efficiency than that without

straw (Chen et al., 2017). And the study by

Mierzwa-Hersztek et al., (2017) showed that the

addition wheat straw biochar and Miscanthus

giganteus straw biochar enhanced the dry weight of

plants by 2% and 14%, respectively, compared to

the conventional cultivation. In this study, rape straw

addition increased the dry weight, while the addition

of other kinds of straw reduced the biomass.

Therefore, different straw had different effects on

the growth of peach seedlings.

Several studies have demonstrated increase in

plant photosynthesis with straw mulching (Shi et al.,

2015, Chen et al., 2012, He et al., 2016). In this

study, the photosynthetic pigment content showed a

similar chanege with the biomass; the addition of

rape straw increased the photosynthetic pigment

content, while the addition of other kinds of straw

reduced the content. The photosynthetic pigments

play an important role in the photosynthetic

metabolism of plants and is closely related to the

accumulation of plant dry matter (Xiong, 2003).

Therefore, the promoting effect of rape straw on

peach seedlings dry weight may be related to its

favorable effect on photosynthetic pigment

synthesis.

SOD is the key enzyme of the plant defense

system, which clears the reactive oxygen species and

plays a role in protecting cells (Zheng et al., 2009).

POD removes the active oxygen components in

plants and plays a synergistic role with SOD, and

these two enzymes maintain the redox balance in

plants (Yin et al., 2009). The function CAT is to

catalyze the decomposition of H

into H

O and

, so that H

can not react with O

under iron

chelation to produce very harmful -OH (Li and Guo,

2008). MDA content reflects the degree of cell

membrane damage and membrane peroxidation

(Ushimaru et al., 1999). Straw addition significantly

enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity and decreased

MDA content of cowpea leaves (Chen et al., 2019).

In this study, the addition of rape straw increased

SOD and CAT activities of peach seedlings and

decreased POD activity and MDA content.

However, the addition of paddy, wheat, and corn

straw resulted in an opposite response, which may

be indicated that the soil fertility was better, the

protective enzymes were at a higher activity, and

membrane damage reduced with rape straw addition.

Soluble proteins are important osmotic adjustment

substances (Fan et al., 2019). The soluble proteins in

tomato (Wang et al., 2018) and cucumber (Qi et al.,

2007) significantly increased with straw addition. In

this study, all four kinds of straw treatments

increased soluble protein content in peach seedlings,

which helps enhance the resistance of P. davidiana

seedlings.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Integrated Research and Application of New

Varieties and Technologies of Horticultural Crops

(2020-YF09-00055-SN) provided financial support

for this project.

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